The High Performance Podcast

Global music icon Anastacia has faced breast cancer twice, first diagnosed at just 34 at the height of her career and again ten years later. In this special episode, created in partnership with Postcode Lottery, she joins Jake to share how those experiences shaped her outlook on life.Anastacia opens up about taking back control, the optimism that has carried her through difficult moments, and why early detection remains so important to her. The conversation also highlights the work of Breast Cancer Now and the difference funding raised by Postcode Lottery players helps make.Anastacia kicks off her UK and European tour on 15th September, including a show at London’s OVO Arena Wembley on Saturday 26th September. Tickets available from Anastacia.com/live.Postcode Lottery manages lotteries for 20 charities. A minimum of 30% of each ticket price goes to charity. 18+, conditions apply. Not available in Northern Ireland

On the morning of 11 September 2001, Sean Windeatt was a 28-year-old in Cantor Fitzgerald's London finance department, fifteen minutes into his usual morning call with a colleague in New York, when the line went dead. That colleague was inside the North Tower. By the end of the day the firm had lost 658 people alongside 61 Euro Brokers employees— around two thirds of its New York workforce, and more than any other company in the tragedy that morning. The next day Sean was called downstairs, offered a job he'd turned down two years earlier, and handed a blank piece of paper. He asked what the job was. "Who knows?"Twenty-five years on, Sean is co-CEO of BGC Group, and he joins Jake to tell the story from the inside. Why the company chose not to sell when selling was the easy way out. Why pledging 25% of profits to the families only meant anything if there was a business left to earn it, and how a firm rebuilt itself working around the clock, while competitors offered office space and airlines flew its staff across the Atlantic at cost.It's also a conversation about a false choice Jake puts to him directly: that you can either be ruthless and successful, or kind and unsuccessful. Sean's answer — and a Charity Day that has now raised over $235 million — suggests otherwise. Along the way: what it's actually like to wake up on 11 September every year, why Prince William refused to leave the trading floor, and the two things Sean was told a great CEO does.If you want information on the BGC Charity Day: https://www.bgcg.com/charity-day/

England Rugby World Cup winner Lawrence Dallaglio built his career on an extraordinary ability to create belief under pressure. But behind that drive was a deeply personal source of motivation: the loss of his sister Francesca when he was just 16.Lawrence opens up about turning grief into fuel, finding the family he needed through rugby, and why the mental and emotional side of performance is so often underestimated. He also reveals how great leaders build belief before the biggest moments and find what truly motivates the people around them.This conversation is a candid exploration of loss, belonging, and the emotions that can shape our drive to succeed.The 2026 Pho3nix Sport with Purpose Charity Gala takes place at The Peninsula London on 20 November, raising funds to create healthier, happier futures for children through sport.Attend the Gala, support the auction or donate at https://pho3nixcharitygala.comAG1 👉Head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance to save £20 on your first month, plus a free welcome kit, Vitamin D3 + K2 and five travel packsVitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au

Sir Steve Hansen won 93 of 107 Tests as All Blacks head coach — the most successful run in the history of professional rugby. We re-visit our chat with Steve where he takes it apart: why "culture" is the most overused word on the planet, why he hates rules, why nobody would admit the All Blacks were World Cup chokers, and the two times he got it badly wrong and had to apologise to a whole squad. Plus the question about walking away that he couldn't finish answering.AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packsVitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au 

Why does a weekly to-do list feel so overwhelming on a Sunday night? Jake and Damian argue it's not because of your workload, it's because your capacity . Sleep, energy, confidence, clarity, control: when any of these drop, the same list of tasks stops looking like separate, manageable jobs and starts looking like one overwhelming message — everything, now.In this episode, Jake and Damian hear from:Steve Peters on the "chimp" that hijacks you in traffic, and why recognising it isn't you is the first step to managing it.Ash Dykes on preparing for the worst before it happens, so it arrives as something expected rather than something that ambushes you.Shane Parrish on why you don't need the confidence to reach the destination — just the confidence to take the next step.Ali Abdaal on the five-minute rule, and the three-quid hourglass that got him moving on the days motivation didn't show up.James Clear on the two-minute rule, and the heaviest weight in the gym: the front door.Jameela Jamil on the power of small, unglamorous no's.Alistair Brownlee on breaking an impossible-feeling task down into the next five-minute reason to keep going.By the end, Jake and Damian give you a ten-minute reset for the next time life all feels like too much because the goal was never to shame yourself into trying harder. It's to rebalance the equation.Thanks to our partners:AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packs

Dina Asher-Smith has just made history as the most decorated athlete in European Championships history. An MBE, multiple major titles and four Olympic Games within reach, but at 30, one of Britain's greatest ever sprinters is still asking how much better she can become.In this episode, Dina opens up about the realities behind those 10 seconds on the track, from how her menstrual cycle affected her performance to competing through grief. She also reflects on leaving her coach of 20 years, rebuilding her career, and why bronze can sometimes mean more than gold.With the 2027 World Championships and LA 2028 ahead, Dina reveals how her relationship with success has changed, and why the opportunity to keep competing at the highest level now feels less like pressure and more like a privilege.AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packsVitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au 

We revisit our conversation with Fernando Alonso - two-time Formula 1 World Champion, 437 Grand Prix starts, 32 wins - recorded in a rare moment where the visor comes off completely. Jake and Damian get behind the "robot" Alonso becomes the second his helmet goes on, and into the boy who started racing a homemade go-kart at three years old, in a family with no money, no expectations, and no competitive gene to explain where his came from.Fernando is disarmingly honest about the cost of that competitiveness: the two championships with Ferrari he came agonisingly close to and still can't fully explain losing; the two titles he did win, in 2005 and 2006, that he now barely remembers because he was already thinking about the next race before the champagne had dried; and the moment, at 13 years old, a mechanic pulled him aside after his best result yet and told him, "second is the first loser." It's a line that shaped the next three decades of his career.Moments that will stay with you:Why his own parents still can't explain where his will to win came fromThe 20% of every race weekend spent planning not for victory, but for everything that could go wrongWhat changed when he left Formula 1 for two years and heard, for the first time, how much people actually missed himThe advice his father gave him before his first ever Grand Prix, in case it turned out to be his lastHe's unflinching about what elite performance actually costs: that you can spend twenty years being told to fear enjoying it, that humility has to be actively protected once fame tries to take it from you, and that self-confidence isn't the absence of doubt it's simply deciding, in advance, what you're capable of, and then closing the visor.AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packsGo Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!

What do you do when every option is on the table and you still end up with the same idea you always have? Jake and Damian tackle one of the quiet traps of creative work, and land somewhere counterintuitive: freedom doesn't make ideas bolder. Constraints do.Damian unpacks David Epstein's Inside the Box and the psychology behind why unlimited time, unlimited method and unlimited scope send the brain straight to its safest, most familiar answer and the three tools for building a better box: the Fake Deadline, the One Rule, and the Small Box.Along the way you'll hear Shane Parrish on the Henry Kissinger question that outed a staffer's "best work" as anything but; René Meulensteen on the Federer clips he used to teach Man Utd players to stay one point wide; Sarina Wiegman on the training session she deliberately ran with a terrible referee, just to see what her players would do with it; and Lewis Morgan on what he'd actually do with a spare £1,000 and a Facebook Marketplace login.The idea doesn't need better conditions. It needs a smaller box.Listen to the full episodes:Sarina Wiegman: https://shows.acast.com/the-high-performance-podcast/episodes/sarina-wiegman-the-leadership-secrets-powering-england-lioneLewis Morgan: https://shows.acast.com/3d30295e-f7fb-5af1-b618-30a8763cc75a/625c41bcfa71dd0012e7f614René Meulensteen: https://shows.acast.com/3d30295e-f7fb-5af1-b618-30a8763cc75a/67e02799511f1304b0d74225AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packsGo Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!

Ballon d'Or winner Michael Owen became one of the world's best footballers by developing an extraordinary ability to turn doubt, mistakes, and setbacks into self-belief. He joins Jake and Damian to reveal how that mindset was built, and why it eventually became one of his greatest challenges.Michael reflects on the injuries that took away the explosive pace that defined him, and the painful eight-year gap between the player he believed he was and what his body could still deliver. He also opens up about retiring at 33, losing his sense of purpose, the strain it placed on his marriage, and how he eventually found a new competitive outlet beyond football.This is an honest exploration of self-belief, identity, and what happens when the mindset that drives success becomes difficult to switch off.Meet the Owens, a six-part docuseries in the UK and Ireland, is available on Prime Video from the 28th August.AG1 👉 head to http://drinkag1.com/highperformance and get a free Morning Person Hat to help start your AG1 daily habit - plus a free D3 and K2, and five travel packsGo Henry 👉 Grow their skills and their money at gohenry.com/highperformance with £5 FREE to get started!Vitality 👉 We've partnered with Vitality because our philosophies align perfectly: healthy habits build high performance and can lead to a healthier, longer life. Find out more about health and life insurance with Vitality: https://highpfrmc.com/vitality-hpp-au